Welephant
is used by almost every Fire Brigade in the U.K. to teach young children
about the dangers of playing with fire.

In
1978 Greater Manchester Fire Service decided to run a competition in the
schools of Greater Manchester. They were asked to draw something that could
be used as a mascot.

A 14
year old girl won the competition by drawing a large red elephant wearing
a fireman's helmet, a belt with a fireaxe and black wellingtons. She called
him Welephant. Welephant was officially adopted by Greater Manchester and
was used in various fire safety campaigns. The children in Greater Manchester
started to know about Welephant.

In
1984 Greater Manchester County Fire Service decided to launch a Welephant
Club for children and received 250,00 requests to join in one
month! The Club continued to grow
and in 1985 eighteen other Fire Brigades had also asked if they could use
Welephant. Permission was given and in 1985 Welephant went National. The
Welephant Charity was established with the aim of educating children in fire
safety and easing the distress of burns victims. A donation of £25,000
from the National Westminster Bank got the Charity off to a good start. Since
then hospital equipment has been purchased to help in Children's Burns Units
throughout the U.K. Various individual children have had specialised equipment
bought for them when they have been seriously ill. Fire Brigades take Welephant
to primary schools to help teach the children between the ages of about four
years to eleven years the dangers from playing with fire.

Major
organisations use the logo for product endorsement and pay a licence fee
but we mainly rely on donations from the public to keep the Charity operating.
Some Fire Brigades have 'Open Days' and send us a donation if Welephant attends.
We sell Welephant goods to Fire Brigades and any profit goes to the Charity.

The
running costs of the Charity are kept to bare minimum. Paid staff comprise
three part time workers, who make great efforts to recycle and 'scrounge'
as much as we can, so that as much money as possible is used for charitable
purposes. Our office is a unit in a Business Centre. The Chairman, Mr. Graham,
is the driving force and is unpaid.

In 1996
the name of the Charity was changed from the Welephant Club incorporated
to The National Fire Safety Charity for Children. The use of the word National
when used in a Charity is considered to imply prestige and status and is
subject to control by regulations. The use is only approved by the Secretary
of State where a Charity demonstrates pre-eminence in the sphere of activity
suggested by the name. Following examination of Welephant's charitable activities
since establishment as a registered charity in 1985, the Secretary of State
for Trade and Industry approved the change of name.

Whenever
you see Welephant you know he will be raising funds for the National Fire
Safety Charity for Children.